


meeting strangers

by starkeeper



Series: Meeting Strangers [1]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: (none so far), Angst, F/F, F/M, Found Family, Friends With Benefits, Friends to Lovers, Friendship/Love, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Multi, Sex, Slow Burn, Strangers to Lovers, chapter specific tags:, more tags to be added while the story continues, these are the general topics
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-08
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-15 05:40:08
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 13,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29928720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starkeeper/pseuds/starkeeper
Summary: They were strangers. Friends. Colleagues. Lovers. Partners. But love was just a word. What united them was so much bigger. (collection of oneshots and shorter multi chapter fics following the same characters, varying ratings&genres, can be read as a whole or just in parts)
Relationships: David Rossi/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Meeting Strangers [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2201046
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	1. preface and table of content

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Spiegelbilder](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/773127) by starkeeper. 



**_Authors note_ **

_meeting strangers_ is a collection of oneshots and multi chapter stories about Alex Dancy and David Rossi, following their journey as well as meeting other people along the road. This once started as a Criminal Minds centric fic seven or so years ago (you can follow [the german original version here](https://www.fanfiktion.de/s/592a09e70001e4371a93dfd4/1/Spiegelbilder)). Over the years and in the process of transferring it to english it evolved quite a bit and does not solely revolve around the characters and stories from Criminal Minds anymore, but grew into a much bigger world - just so you know what you're getting into. David Rossi is playing a huge role in this story as one of two protagonists, some other characters from the series play minor roles, but mostly you will get to know a whole bunch of own characters on the run. (For the non CM folks getting into here: you basically do not need to know the series at all, everything you need to know will be explained.)

_**Structure of the collection** _

_meeting strangers_ basically follows Alex Dancy throughout her life. There are several different storylines (mostly chronologically: childhood and upbringing in Russia, 20's in London, moving to the States etc.) that will form separately posted stories and linked here as well. This story here will feature the main chapters, the basic points for the relationship between Alex Dancy&David Rossi.

_meeting strangers_ will not be told chronologically but is drawn as a collection of oneshots and smaller multi chapter fics. Chapters will reveal past or future things over time, but will reference and explain where neccessary. It is built to be read and understood in the order of published chapters, rather than based on a chronological storytelling. It is absolutely possible thogh to read chapters in another order or only some chapters (i.e. oneshots or multichapter fics). You are invited to but do not need to follow all of it to be able to follow it.

_**Topics discussed and trigger warnings** _

The major storyline is one of strangers to friends to idiots to lovers. Besides, _meeting strangers_ deals with a whole lot of rather heavy topics, including abuse, violence, stalking and a whole ot of PTSD. (It's a Criminal Minds fic after all.) None of the bad stuff will ever be made explicit, and content warnings as well as ratings will be made prior each chapter.

**_Meet the author_ **

You can [meet and ramble with the author on tumblr](https://painterofhorizons.tumblr.com/). :D I am always excited to meet new folk. There is also a [tag for everything related to this story](https://painterofhorizons.tumblr.com/tagged/fic-talk:-spiegelbilder) over there.

_**Table of content** _

chapter 2: **The First Chapter [12k, M, no trigger warnings]** set in 2000 - David Rossi has quit his job with the BAU to be a full time author, but struggles with some unpleasant by-products of his new job. Alex Dancy was just minding her own business, when paths cross and help is needed.

_to be continued..._


	2. The First Chapter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> chapter 2: The First Chapter [12k, M, no trigger warnings] set in 2000 - David Rossi has quit his job with the BAU to be a full time author, but struggles with some unpleasant by-products of his new job. Alex Dancy was just minding her own business, when paths cross and help is needed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter you will meet Ana which is Alex Dancy (more about that in a second part to this chapter that will follow later).

**The First Chapter**

_Sometimes you meet someone, and it_ _‘s so clear that the two of you on some level belong together. As lovers, or as friends, or as family, or as something entirely different. You just work, whether you understand one another or you‘re in love or you‘re partners in crime. You meet these people throughout your life, out of nowhere, under the strangest circumstances, and they help you feel alive. I don‘t know if that makes me believe in coincidence, or fate, or sheer blind luck - but it definitely makes me believe in something._ \- Unknown

**2000**

David Rossi wasn‘t known to be a man of many regrets. Early on in life he had decided that regretting past decision didn‘t get him anywhere, especially not forwards. If - not when, _if_ \- he ever made a mistake, he would analyze it, he would acknowledge it, and he would draw conclusions based on the situation - but he didn‘t regret anything. Life was too short for that.

That mentality accompanied him on most of his days. Occasionally though, a slightly different feeling crept in, drawing him away from his rationally analyzing self towards a more emotional, less balanced one. Those moments were as rare as annoying, but they existed. And lately they accumulated. So far, Dave still refused to see a correlation between entering early retirement three years ago and that diffuse feeling of, well, that there needed to be more in life than this. That maybe he had settled for the wrong things after all.

Though today his reasons for regretting past decisions were much more practical. It wasn‘t some vaguely philosophical dispute he held with his alter ego nor questioning some fundamental judgements he had made. Today, it was something painfully concreet that scratched his nerves and made him wish himself back into his old office. Even the very old, windowless one, forgotten in some basement no one ever went to.

Almost two decades after forming a special unit within the FBI that concentrated on understanding criminals, not solely on solving crime, he had handed on the baton to a younger generation three years ago. The Behavioral Science Unit that used to consist just of himself and one colleague, cramped into a basement room with no windows and bad air condition, was now called Bahevioral Analysis Unit and consisted of a dozen exprienced agents divided into two teams spread across the country. Jason Gideon, who formed the inital BSU with himself in the late ‘70s, was still in and mostly responsible for expanding the unit‘s human workforce. Meanwhile Dave decided to focus on the underlying theoretical work and on spreading the insights they had accumulated over two decades. Instead of being out in the field, nowadays he put all of said two decades worth of experience into publishing case studies and books on profiling, as well as in private counselling activity. He was still sometimes drawn in to cases with the FBI in an advisory function, but it seemed that the BAU by now was pretty well set up and able to fend for itself. Some days that realization stung a little, though Dave would never admit that to anybody. And it had been his own decision to leave the BAU for good after all. That didn’t really leave him in a position to complain about the very same thing.

So Dave was stuck with writing books and promoting them, something he generally enjoyed quite a bit - but on days like today it indeed felt like he was stuck. An outsider must think of his current lifestyle as glamorous and desirable: one day he was in New York, the next one in Paris, today in London. He held lectures on every FBI office around the world, accompanied by additional promotion dates outside the FBI territory. Within the bureau he held some kind of a rock star image with his position as the founding father of the BSU. With his experience he provided advice both for local police stations and private security agencies. And the private events, book tours and network meetings usually were quite enjoyable and comfortable compared to too long days spent on the road and nights spent in sleazy motels while still working with the BSU. That way of life had gone along with being a two men army of some yet to be established FBI subunit without real funding, it had gone along with two ruined marriages and a lot more doubtful decisions on his end. But those days were long gone, exchanged for a life more glamorous and enjoyable.

So, writing books should feel like a walk on a fucking sunshine beach compared to the old days.

And yet he found himself wishing him back more and more often, back into the cramped basement office that they had left behind a decade ago, back behind his overloaded desk with no clue of when to actually finish all the work within a 24 hour day. It wasn‘t the writing itself that turned out to be annoying and tiresome, it was the by-products. Sure, he knew those days when the cursor aggressively blinked on an otherwise blank page and the words for his next book just wouldn‘t flow. But that was rare and not what drew his resentment. Hell, on days like today even the endless and not-to-be-won arguments with Jason seemed to be preferable to what he was currently doing.

So as much as former Supervisory Special Agent David Rossi refused to regret anything in life - today was a day when he condemned himself for quitting his job and becoming a full time author and advisor instead, being stuck with what he was dealing with _right now_.

Dave forced a friendly smile on his face when he bid farewell to the bookshop‘s owner and sighed both relieved and tired when the door finally closed behind him. This last book presentation he had done on this trip to London should have ended more than an hour ago. As much as he loved the discussions after those readings, today he would have welcomed it to just be done with it in time. Usually he liked to engage in whatever intellectual dispute he could take part in. The discussions after the non-professional promotion dates usually weren‘t the most challenging, but at least they were flattering. It was satisfying to finally have the BAU‘s hard work acknowledged. And so far he had always taken time to sign even the last available book with a graceful, charming smile on his lips and a nice word towards the recipient. Hell, if nothing else, there was usually a nice kind of dinner waiting for him after a reading, so at least that was something to look forward to.

But lately he started to doubt the intention of some of his readers, and with that he also started to doubt his own intentions for doing these public readings at all. More and more frequently it was rather suspect individuals attending his public lectures. Or had it always been like that and he just hadn’t noticed?

Usually it was students, police officers and readers interested in crime cases and thriller novels who attended his readings - a fairly normal audience and in general people who fell in the category of being a pleasant audience or at least not overly unpleasant.

The second group of people were housewives. Dave had yet to understand what drew them close to subjects he talked about. Considering the shocked expressions they made when he talked about past cases or answered more or less in detail to questions afterwards - what did they expect with books titled _Within the mind of a serial killer_? Recipes? Home makeovers? Handsome protagonists who saved the damsel in distress and fell in love afterwards?

But even aside from housewives, there was an increasing amount of people among the audience that Dave would call at least suspicuous. Dubious. A little _too_ interested. Asking the wrong questions. It was probably an occupational illness that made him suspicuous of this third smaller group of readers. Or maybe retirement was making him paranoid. Maybe he needed the chase. In any case, he didn‘t enjoy that part of the audience too much, and he always made sure to carefully write down names should he be given them. Just in case.

But even _that_ wasn‘t the sort of audience that spoiled those events for him. It was the fanatic fans. What seemed flattering at first turned out to be a more and more of a problem. Again, Dave didn‘t understand why he drew all this questionable attention from a specific type of women on himself at all. Neither did he write romance novels nor crime novels about some dashing handsome police officer nor was he himself exceptionally goodlooking. Average. At best. And his obvious italian roots could only cover so much of the mediocrity. And yet there were more and more women showing an abnormal interest in himself as a person rather than his books and he had yet to find a way to effectively avoid that.

One of today‘s lecture‘s attendees was a woman of exactly this kind. He‘d seen her on the fourth reading in a row now - or was it the fifth? He didn‘t remember much of the Paris evening anymore as that evening had ended rather merry. That had been one of the enjoyable nights with good dinner and good company and, well. A gentleman doesn’t kiss and tell. He did remember the woman he‘d spent the Paris night with, though, and it was definitely not the one stalking him now. In the end it didn‘t make much of a difference if it was four or five lectures (and he was not counting the several other encounters at irregular intervals within the last six to eigth months he thought he‘d remember). He felt highly uncomfortable with the way she was hanging on his lips, listening not only to what he said but also how, maybe even more to the how than to the what, as if he himself found the philosopher‘s stone. Or some erotic equivalent… And ate it. And reborn it. It wasn‘t the kind of hyperfixated interest college students used to show after discussing one of his books and now meeting the idolized master himself. It wasn‘t flattering. It was displeasing. _Very_ displeasing. That woman was intrusive. Currying favour with him. Dave wasn‘t an abstainer by nature, not at all, but he knew to better keep himself from trouble. And that woman was nothing but trouble.

It was still March and already dark by the time he left the bookstore. This was his fourth or fifth visit to London, and so far the European metropole left nothing but a charming, lovable impression. Not as cultivated as Paris, but more lively, and busy in a very different way. Promoting his books had him travel around the world quite a bit, not just across the States but also across Europe and once even to Moscow. The latter was mostly due to personal relationships rather than based on a real public interest in his books, but it had been fun nevertheless - even if it had been way too cold for his taste.

While he enjoyed all travelling the world, the short trips to Europe were his favourite. He had been travelling so much within the States that sometimes it felt like he‘d seen every place by now. He wasn‘t actually bored - to call their job boring was the biggest misconduct he could think of - but right now, he just enjoyed travelling for different reasons. Not for the hunt. Not for emergencies. Not because someone had recently been murdered violently. It was a luxury and it was one that sometimes gave him sleepless nights, he would admit that. But it was a pleasant one nevertheless. And Europe still held some surprises for him, even if he had already been to the major cities that had FBI branch offices several times. But no matter how often he had been to Paris, Berlin, London or Rome - he could never get enough of them. He also couldn‘t get enough of New York or Chicago or LA - but currently it was no either or decision.

After finishing his third book he was in the midst of the promotional tour right now and travelling a lot. Like: A Lot. His manager tried to get him at least two dates in the free economy for each one with the FBI, so he was seeing quite a lot of bookshops and fairs and other events these days. As with everything in life knowledge was a double-sided coin here: he understood that the majority of the people didn‘t want to think about what they were facing on a daily basis. And maybe some things were better left unsaid and some shadows better left in the dark. If the public would be aware of how many serial killers usually were active at the same time - which included right now, not to speak of other criminals who did not fall into the category of serial offenders… It would probably need nerves of steel to still be able to sleep at night for most people. That‘s why his promotion tours usually didn‘t target a general audience, but a specialized one. One that had to deal with this knowledge for professional reasons. And if he could spread the word of their work and research for a better understanding and eventually a better work in the field of investigation and crime prevention? Anyone could count him in, any time. And the BAU was still somewhat nascent, more or less, so any good publicity was helpful. Besides, he would be lying if he‘d say he didn‘t like the attention.

Dave shook his head. When did he start to worry about positive publicity and when did he get so attention loving? He sure had a handful of not so charming traits, but this one was… Retirement was changing him - for the better or worse, he did not know yet. Sometimes he wondered if his books and writing caused more harm than good if one did the math. He wondered what his books did with innocent people like that woman today who had been talking to him as if serial crime was the most exciting, most appealing topic the world had to offer. He wondered if she had always been interested in it, even before she read his books. Had she even read his books? Maybe before she had been just a normal housewife, interested in harmless normal housewife things, and he-

„Agent Rossi!“

Dave couldn‘t help but flinch at the sound of the too familiar high pitch voice behind him. Speak of the devil... He should have known better. No, he _had_ known better, and yet dared to trick himself into hoping for a different outcome. No matter how much he longed for the bed in his hotel room tonight, being exhausted by God knew what, he had taken the time to have an extra long chat with the shop owner after the reading, hoping this particular problem would solve itself for once. Now he paid the price for his foolishness. He had been so focussed on keeping the shop owner engaged, that he had completely forgotten to have a cab ordered for him. He was pretty sure she had offered him to order one or even offered to give him a ride, but for God‘s sake he could not recall his answer. Obviously, whatever he had said had been a very bad decision.

Once he was back in Washington DC he really needed to have a word with his manager. Having fans was one thing. Having a stalker was something different. He might not feel physically threatened by that woman (though he did know better in this regard, too) but she was more than just a minor inconvenience for him by now. And he knew how fast something like this could shift from innocent to life-threatening.

„David, it is wonderful to meet you here. I worried I missed you“ the woman purred at him, calling him by his first name unasked, acting like they were any kind of close.

She was about his age, long, dark hair pulled back in a strict knot, wearing more and more expensive clothing every time he saw her. Hoping she would leave some impression - she did, but not the in desired way.

Birgitta van Leijen, that‘s how she had introduced herself to him once, a couple of months ago. The name was as fake as her whole appearance and the role she played. He had her checked and wasn‘t surprised when no results showed up. He would initiate further steps back in the states, though he knew that _being annoyed_ wasn‘t enough to actually have something done about it. But maybe he was lucky and there was some outstanding lawsuits waiting for her in another state or something.

But he did not want to deal with her _tonight_.

Tonight she hadn‘t been the only questionable person in the audience and all he wanted to do was to have some peace and quiet in the hotel, with a fine scotch or two or three and nothing else. Drowning the daring thought that he had made a huge mistake when he decided to leave active duty and write books instead. _Books_. How incredibly naive. His damned books had only gotten him into this position. Tonight, the thought of wanting back to his old basement office, facing real crime, fighting real crime, instead of keeping obsessed fans at a distance, was louder than ever. Retirement had been the biggest mistake of his career.

„Mam, I-“ He couldn‘t make it past these words when she interrupted him.

„You are absolutely right, dear! I‘m so sorry to keep you waiting and standing in the cold after such a long and exhausting day. I admire your passion for all these lost souls that keep bothering you after such a fabulous reading like yours.“

Passion? Lost souls? What the fuck?

Dave wanted to groan, but restrained himself and didn‘t even frown. His businesslike friendliness turned out to be a real curse at times, but it also helped him through most unpleasant situations. And this was one of the moments to keep his countenance. Acting upon her words or action one way or another would only get him drawn even deeper into her fantasy.

„There‘s this fabulous Italian restaurant where I made a reservation for us, David. You will love it. And afterwards-“

He should have ordered a cab. No, better yet, he should have stayed in his old profession and should never have written these damned books at all. And he knew that this was just him being annoyed, that besides all the side effects his writing entailed, the books helped educate colleagues and professionals around the world and by that helped prevent or solve crimes - but damn it, tonight his patience was wearing thin. Very thin.

He squared his barely 5’9” not too impressive shoulders and added authority to his voice. „You should leave now, mam.“

Again, her answer was a willfully misunderstanding nod and Dave had to take a few steps back avoiding her getting even closer or himself from physically stopping her from trying.

„You‘re right, I am so sorry. We should leave of course, it must be most uncomfortable standing here. It‘s just a few minutes from here, just around the corner and - It‘s all planned out, you will love it, and after that-“

He needed to talk to his manager. His colleagues. Anybody. Please, anybody spare him from that woman and help him keep his contenance.

Someone was approaching them from the other direction. It was less a direct approaching and more a minding their own business walking the same street, clearly not minding Dave and his fan as they were still standing outside of the meanwhile dark and closed bookshop. Still some dozen feet away Dave saw a woman, younger than the one bothering him, who was mumbling something about wine and pasta and together and whatever-the-fuck-else. Dave threw some low key desperate glances in the direction of the other woman at the end of the street, as if she could be the solution to his misery. Maybe he was fooling himself again. But he really lacked the nerves tonight to deal with his stalker in a calm and diplomatic way. Calm and diplomatic had only gotten him here in the first place and he was tired and annoyed, and he really did not want to deal with it right now. So he looked at that other woman, silently pleading with his eyes, asking her to do anything, anything, to help him out. The woman was maybe in her end twenties, blonde, casually dressed, seemed confident and just the complete opposite to his devotee, casual in the best way - though everyone would have looked like that to Dave right now. And anything was good enough to get him out of here.

The stranger seemed to understand - at least he thought to see something like a slightly amused smirk on her lips as well as a raised brow. If he could‘ve, he would‘ve groaned.

A few seconds later, she joined him and his stalker, casual enough so that an outsider could assume they were all actually meant to meet here.

„Hey darling, sorry for being late. You okay?“

Her voice managed to be the perfect combination of friendly yet explicit, interrupting but not overly intruding - and with a different counterpart a normal, friendly, somewhat enjoyable conversation could have started. Of course, Mrs van Leijen or whatever her real name was didn‘t exactly fall in that category, and her reaction was corresponding.

„And you are?“ she asked cranky, immediately throwing daggers at the younger woman with her eyes.

„Not your problem” she responded completely unimpressed, turning to Dave again. „You‘re done here? Shall we?“

Before Dave could even inhale in order to respond, his stalker seized the word quite aggressively. „What is this, David?!“ Turned towards the stranger, she went on „Whoever you believe to be, you have no business with with him, so you better get lost now!“

The other one withstand the tirade without any visible reaction, hands buried in the pockets of a slightly too big, worn down, light brown leather jacket, eyes resting on the stalker calmly and completely unimpressed. When van Leijen stopped, assuming she had set some kind of example, she calmly asked „You done? This is a residential area, so lower your voice. You‘re making people uneasy.“

Dave had a hard time surpressing a laugh. That was one way to put it.

„If you‘re trying to tell me you and David-“ van Leijen started, but was cut by the younger one.

„I‘m not trying to tell you anything.“ She made half a step towards the other, leaving Dave impressed by the subtle yet very explicit change in her overall vibe. With a quieter and more resolute voice, she finished „Get lost. If you want to start drama, do it somewhen else, somewhere else. This is not the place.“

It sounded very much like a _not in my neighborhood, lady_ , and Dave forced himself to smile inwardly, wondering whom he had just run into.

Shifting back to the friendly and somewhat noncommittal vibe, she turned back to Dave, linked arms with him and started walking away from his stalker like they were well known acquiantances meeting for a date. She casually got him involved in some random smalltalk of which Dave later couldn’t recall a single thing they talked about.

To Dave‘s surprise his stalker stayed behind, keeping a distance. It felt like she followed them for a bit, but the younger woman engaged him in some casual chatter and he forced himself to not look back, even if every inch of his body ached to do exactly that. He had already braced himself to have an endless discussion that would in the worst case end up in some physical argument or him calling the police - but it seemed like sometimes it was as easy as to turn around and just go. With a little help at least. Grateful he let the stranger lead the way, as he was being lost in this part of London anyways. The evening couldn‘t get much worse, and he was willing to give up some control in the situation as it had somewhat improved at least.

After a couple of minutes he exhaled, about to stop to break up the situation and at least introduce himself or something, but the woman kept him walking. „Thanks“ he mumbled nevertheless, throwing her a look from the side. „That was...“

They‘d only walked with linked arms for some time to play along and were now walking with some distance again.

„Awkward?“ The woman kept looking forward but didn’t even try to hide her amusement. „That was obvious.“

On a different day, Dave would have probably been at least mildly offended by the way she took this, or highly amused - but today was no different day and she had no intel on the situation after all. Maybe if he was in her position he‘d been amused, too. Then again, if the roles were switched and she’d be in his place instead, the situation would be a very different and potentially far more threatening one.

Finally, he looked over his shoulder, convincing himself that they were really walking alone again. When he saw the street behind them empty, he felt relief - a faint, empty version of it, being fully aware that this was not a solution but a mere short break for the moment. But it was some relief after all. He reached for the arm of the other woman, finally getting her to stop. With her going and going and going to God knew where, she made him almost feel breathless.

„Thank you“ he said formally, slowly, hoping to get her to slow down, too. „I‘m-“

„In trouble?“ She shifted her weight from one foot to the other and pursed her lips.

„Stephen“ he replied. For tonight he was fed up with being SSA David Rossi. That dude had only gotten him in trouble lately.

„Ana.“ She shook his hand with a strong grip.

She didn‘t mind that the woman just called him David and he now was introducing himself as Stephen - hell, she wouldn‘t care if his name was Santa Claus. She also didn‘t care for his business here. He didn‘t really seem like someone who couldn‘t take care of himself, yet somehow managed to trip into a situation that was a little harder to solve without starting a fuzz late at night. Other than that, she didn‘t need more detail and would have forgotten about it again after a good nights rest for sure. This was London, it definitely wasn‘t the strangest situation she‘d found herself in. This kind of rescue action was something women did all the time, that it was a guy she was helping out now was less common, but didn‘t make it unusual.

“Assume you’re okay?” she reassured herself anyways.

Dave nodded. „Yeah, sure. Though I have to admit, Ana, that I am totally lost.“

Dave didn’t know this area. Why was this part of the town so residential? It was hardly ten in the evening, every bar, every restaurant would still be open and crowded at this time of day. Yet this area seemed to be completely empty, with the book store being the only point of interest.

The smirk on the woman’s face grew into a grin. „Also quite obvious. Come on, I‘ll drop you off at a cab station.“

„Thank you. Can I return the favor and pay for a coffee? Or dinner?“ Or was that too much?

She shook her head, getting them walk again. „Nope. Gotta work.“

Dave replied without thinking about it. „Now?“ He was surprised about her answer and couldn‘t think of a job with a starting time just about now. She looked like someone studying architecture or something, maybe someone creative, not quite dressed up enough to work behind a bar or-

„Sex work.“ Her answer sounded dry, but the narrow, confident smile on her lips didn‘t fade.

For a moment Dave wasn‘t sure if she was telling the truth or making a joke. He tried to discreetly look over her but ended up being not very discreet, only making her snort snarkily. He shrugged and uttered a short apology, but she brushed it off.

„You know, once I served my last client and slept a while, you can take me out for dinner to make up for _that_ , not for that crazy lady you had trouble with. Cause that was hella rude. Women are more than flesh on legs existing to fullfill roles men can imagine fitting them. Besides, whatever thought about sex workers just crossed your head tells a lot about you, mate.“ Her voice was a mixture of reprehension and sarcasm, words sharp and clear, and snorting she added „Americans.“

Dave took the objection he deserved silently, ignoring the impulse to explain himself. She was right. He had judged her hastily and neither that judgement nor the underlying assumption did him any honour. Nevertheless, the next evening he wouldn’t be here anymore, so even if he wanted to, he couldn’t follow her suggestion.

“My flight leaves at twelve” he said, leaving it open to her how to react.

Ana’s reaction was clear: she snorted, throwing him a glance that was more than a little annoyed and that made Dave almost laugh out loud. Had he been the one checking her out before, now she returned the favour and didn’t even try to hide it. Dave withstood it, suddenly feeling calm and at his inner center again. Was she just thinking about whether or not he was worth it getting up early? A helpless uptight suit wearing american who had basically called her a prostitute after she saved his sorry ass? For God’s sake, _she was_. And he would lie if he said he minded that.

Dave restrained the grin to the corners of his mouth slightly twitching.

Instead of giving him an answer, she gestured down the street. „Back there is a cab station. Guess you get along on your own now.“

Part of Dave was glad he saw a light at the end of a tunnel now, and that light was called safely getting to his hotel and having it quiet for the rest of the night. But part of him immediately regretted if this would be the end of their strange little encounter. The night was mostly fucked up for him, being an emotional up and down of very unexpected sorts, but he was willing to give it a chance to improve. And Ana seemed like someone with whom a casual or not so casual conversation could be potentially interesting. So maybe she was done with her act of help and maybe she was just not interested in a drink or maybe he had just majorly fucked up. But if that wasn’t the case, he would give it a chance.

“Give me a second, I’ll give you my number. Call me when you’re done working, I’d definitely like to make up for this favour. If you want to.”

Ana gave him a look he couldn’t quite decipher when he took out a pen from his bag. She shrugged, shifting her weigth from one foot to the other. But she waited for him writing down his number. “Yah. Sure. Whatever.”

“When will you be done working?”

“Can’t say. Couple of hours.”

That could be everything from two to ten, he guessed. Ana was tantalising him, and it didn’t evoke any annoyance in him, quite the contrary. It was refreshing.

“Call me if you want to.”

Ana shrugged again, waving him goodbye. “Take care not to run into freaks.”

When she was already halfway gone again, Dave found himself still looking after her. “Will do” he quietly mumbled to himself, a small smirk on his lips.

He wasn’t sure he would take his invitation if he was her. But he sure hoped she would.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A couple of hours later they indeed found themselves in a small diner or bar of some sorts - Dave didn’t know how to correctly lable this place - drinking coffee at three in the morning, eating fries. At least one of them. This was the most absurd continuation of the last day Dave could think of, but there surly could be worse ways to spend the night. His mood swung between amusement, exhaustion, still mild annoyance by the fact that he would have to deal with Mrs van Leijen later again and, well, just a curious enjoyment. This was the least David Rossi-thing he had done in months.

Instead of calling him, Ana had just shown up at the hotel at some point and somehow managed to get the concierge to give him a short call asking if he wanted to come down. Given the night time and the fact she didn’t even know his full name nor his room number it was a small miracle to Dave that she managed to do so, but at least it was some kind of proof that she actually wanted to go for that coffee. At three. In the morning. Dave had asked her about how she did it, but she had just smirked and not answered.

When Ana had picked him up, she’d asked about where he wanted to go for breakfast, which left him a little confused at first. Three a.m. wasn’t exactly the time he considered well fitting for anything that could bear the name breakfast, and by the love of God, he didn’t feel like eating anything at all at that time. Ana snorted something of just trying to be polite here, that she didn’t want to drag him to some shady place for fish&chips for breakfast and just assume he was fine with it. Meanwhile Dave still had problems wrapping his head around the fact that she naturally called it breakfast when it wasn’t even three in the morning and neither of them had slept yet. At least when she picked him up she didn’t look like she had slept before. Instead, she seemed energized, squirrelly, and she almost glowed. Dave lacked a better description for it. And she was very impatient with him not understanding her point.

If Dave didn’t know better - and he did in fact not know better - he would say she had done any kind of substances. He wanted to trust his guts which told him she wasn’t the type for substance abuse. And being in a good mood wasn’t neccessarily a bad thing, her energy level simply didn’t quite match his own lack thereof.

Dave suggested going to the hotel bar instead, but Ana had just given him a explicit look, snorted and mumbled something of _as if she would fit in there_ and _whatnot_. He didn’t really follow that. So when he reassured her he was fine with whatever she picked and that he wasn’t hungry and was okay with a cup of coffee, she had pro forma repeated that she did indeed offered the _polite gent picks place_ -option, but then led the way to the place they ended up in now.

Dave was pretty sure it was not the said shady fish&chips place, but it couldn’t be very far from it either. At least Ana did end up with a box of chips and coffee on free refill, while Dave just had a coffee and was okay with just being amused by the overall situation.

“So I’m too decent to go for burgers past midnight?” Dave asked, quoting her from their discussion earlier, being quite entertained by how Ana seemed to really enjoy those oil dripping fries freely and easily at this time of day.

Ana raised her brows. “You don’t necessarily look like someone eating fries at night.”

“So you go by looks?”

She shrugged. “I go by I don’t see any fries in front of you right now.”

“Touché.”

“You really want nothing?”

Dave declined again. “I had something when I arrived at the hotel earlier. But thank you.”

He had spent the last few hours going through notes while waiting for her to call or not call. In any way, once he was at the hotel and set up with room service he felt more at ease again but also not tired enough to go to bed. And as part of him indeed had hoped she would call, he didn’t want to miss it. With him flying back westwards the next day he wouldn’t really feel the time zone difference anyways back in the states, so he was fine with just working a little more.

He was aware of the contradiction of working on his new book when his books were the reason he had been in this situation today at all. But it was what he did for a living, and he did enjoy it. And whenever he found himself restless he usually found comfort in work. He had written huge parts of his first book while being stuck with an especially nasty case for months on the west coast, working the case during the day and writing the book at night, just to give his mind some rest and distraction in that time. Surprisingly, that system had always worked out best for him. Sitting at home in his office all day with nothing else to do than writing his books though? That always seemed like a punishment to him. Maybe retirement wasn’t the best idea after all.

On the way to the diner and while Ana had her strange midnight breakfast, they talked about everything and anything, shifting from one topic to another like old acquaintances who had just met again after a few years. None of them really picked what they were talking about, they just naturally flowed between anything that crossed their minds. It indeed felt like they knew each other forever. The conversation was absolutely unproblematic until Dave made the mistake to shift to something a little closer to small talk.

“So, how was work? You seem glowing.”

It wasn’t actually something Dave was really curious for, but felt like a standard question to ask while she was eating and restocking energy and he was sitting there sipping the probably worst coffee of his life.

“Glowing?” Ana looked up in surprise.

Maybe it hadn’t been the most innocuous description. Dave hadn’t actually thought about it much when he said that. So he just gave her a slight shrug and some polite smile.

Ana stared at him for a while. When Dave already thought she’d simply call it quit here, she laughed and continued eating. “Glowing.” She nodded slowly. “Haven’t had someone call me that before. So, you mean with all the clients I had last night and such?” She grinned while grabbing another pair of fries. “I was actually done working when I ran into you and went to a club with a couple of friends afterwards.”

So that’s where the glowing originated. Dave could definitely see that happen.

She closely examined his reaction to her telling him openly that she lied to him earlier, but Dave took it with serenity. He wasn’t sure anything that happened this night could surprise him anymore. Or shock him. Instead, it somehow only made him curiouser.

When he didn’t respond, Ana went on. “You didn’t really expect a woman to just accept the ‘invitation’ for dinner after such a situation, did you?” She made quotation marks with her fingers in the air around the word invitation.

“I guess you don’t” Dave replied.

“No women should. By the way, you weren’t really surprised about that help earlier tonight, were you? That look in your eyes?” She gestured aimlessly in his direction. Dave expected any description now: crazy, desperate, helpless, pitiful, but Ana just said “That’s something women are just _used to_. That’s what we do for others all the time. So that look in your eyes? Nothing I haven’t seen before. It’s literally how we survive. And why we don’t just accept invitations like that.”

Her voice was casual, the way she worded it like it was no big thing - but it reminded Dave of how most of his day he wasn’t aware just how different life was for him as a man. At no time so far with darling van Leijen he was actually scared or fearing for his life, not even closely. He was annoyed and it was inconvenient, but given the necessity he could probably easily defend himself towards that woman. Given the situation was reversed…

“Okay, so, how was work then? And what do you do, if I may ask?”

If Ana wanted to dwell some more on Dave’s hasty judgement concerning the sex work moment from earlier, she didn’t do it. Dave’s impression was, though, that she had made her point in exactly that moment (and her point got delievered, so much was sure) and that she didn’t hold any grudges about it anymore.

Ana nodded, taking a mouthful of coffee before she answered. Contrary to himself she didn’t seem to mind the poor quality of whatever they called coffee here. “Good. Good. We were having a concert.”

“You’re a musician?”

“Street worker. Working at a youth club and we regularily hold concerts and other events for the kids.”

That was an answer Dave didn’t expect - but then again, nothing of this day or night had gone exactly like he had imagined it so he shouldn’t be surprised either. And Ana did indeed seem self confident and tough enough to deal with a lot of bullshit. And she did seem like a people person.

“How about you? Is there anything exciting in that suit wearing guy who gets harassed by white middle class middle age midlife crisis women?”

Dave’s first impulse was to laugh at what she threw at him. Ana’s open way was both amusing and fascinating to him. This seemed like some badly played sketch, something from the _conversations and meetings that will never happen in real life_ -folder. Put opposites at the same table and wait for what happens. It sticked out in a mile that they couldn’t be more different.

“Not sure I do anything exciting that fits in your definition of it” he said. It would have been easy to just throw some blatant lie at her like she’d done earlier with him, and he was sure she wouldn’t mind or even care about it. But as much as he was done with being SSA David Rossi tonight, he also didn’t want to play a role. He was just curious to let it flow and see where it took them - and he was relatively sure that what she had just said about being a social worker was true. So there was no reason for him to lie or hide who he was in return. That didn’t mean though he had to be completely open about it.

“FBI” he said. When Ana reacted with a mildly confused _huh?_ He realized he had probably taken a little longer with his answer than he intended to. “I’m with the FBI” he repeated. “Or was. Technically I’m retired and write books about-”

Ana immediately paused her eating, only to look up with knitted brows and give him a sceptical look. “Who retires at forty five?”

Dave pursed his lips, unable to help feeling mildly offended by both her question and the number and the fact that he would have said a thing or two more if only she had let him finish. “Forty one, if you don’t mind.” And that was the moment he retired three years ago. So technically, she wasn’t really wrong about the forty five. Which just made his ego snarl a bit louder on the inside.

Ana snorted, giving him a look. “Doesn’t make it any better, does it? Who retires at forty _one_?” She stressed the last word especially clearly. “If we all had that work ethic, humanity wouldn’t get anywhere in life.”

Dave wanted to diagree, decidedly, and felt on the verge of starting a serious argument on this. But instead, he bit his tongue. Maybe it was the privilege of the younger generation to hold such hasty and self-righteous believes - or maybe she was just right and that was what bothered him. He hadn’t had anybody disagree with him like that in ages, especially not since he stopped working with Gideon on a daily basis. His former colleague didn’t mince matters either. But besides him Dave was pretty sure the people he knew would never even dare to raise their voice against him in that manner, not to speak of those he didn’t know. Ana though? Really gave some Gideon vibes here. She clearly had no issues weighing in on anything, no matter if it was her business or not. She had guts or she was very reckless or both - and part of Dave held deep respect for that. The other part probably was ego most of all.

“It’s not like I lay at the beach all day long” he condescended, failing to give his voice the intended touch of conciliation.

“No. You _write books_.”

The way she said those words, almost spit them out, had Dave pause for a moment. He felt like he was supposed to argue with that at least, making clear that he wasn’t just writing some free time novels just for fun. But wasn’t that exactly what had been on his mind lately anyways? That no matter how important his books were or could be, that he was still wasting time with what he was doing? That he was wasting his potential, assuming he was as good in his job with the BAU as he thought? That in the end he _was_ wasting himself and what he was able to affect in exchange for, well, _writing books_? Sure, he was convinced that writing these books, getting the word out and spreading the knowledge they had gathered helped in the fight. But he also missed the hunt. He missed being out in the fields, front line, and on some days he didn’t even remember why he had retired early in the first place. Writing those books, like Ana had accused him, didn’t seem like a legit reason to him all the time.

So being called out for that didn’t really give him the right to argue with it, did it?

“I’m a constant fucking delight, right?” Ana drew his thoughts back to the diner. She threw him a somewhat awry grin, sensing she had gone a little too far with that a little too frank criticism towards someone she basically didn’t know. That was the post-dancing oxygen-deficient-club adrenaline high she was usually experiencing on nights like this speaking, which just got her a little too… well, too much of anything usually. Sensitive conversations weren’t exactly the cleverest idea to have in these nights.

Dave laughed, surprised by that sudden change of mind. “I am tempted to believe that” he said, amusement driving away the somewhat bitter thoughts, and added “Don’t worry. You’re not really wrong either. Don’t let this handsome appareance of mine fool you, I am actually able to self-reflect critically.”

“You better be at that age” Ana teased him again, voice snarky, but in the next moment she raised her hands conciliatorily and changed the topic, a gentle smirk on her lips. “So, what are those books about you write? What do you do when you’re not laying at the beach?”

“It’s behavioural analysis. Profiling, so to speak. Not exactly the fitting topic for-”

A night like this, Dave wanted to say, being reminded of all the wrong people who came to his lectures and not being sure if his work was actually something he wanted to discuss with Ana right now. But she crossed his intentions.

“It’s three a.m. and you’re sitting there eating fries with a complete stranger. I don’t think there’s anything _not_ fitting in here right now.”

“Can’t really argue with that kind of logic, I assume.”

“You assume right. So. What are those books about?”

So Dave explained it to her, the profiling and the work with people like Ted Bundy and how their work took benefit from it. She listened closely, for once not interrupting him, interested, but Dave wasn’t sure if she always agreed with him. When he was done giving her a roundup, he felt like something had been slowly boiling up in her.

“So basically you say” she began slowly “it all comes down to a sorry childhood.”

“Not necessarily. But there are indeed factors usually set in the early childhood and youth that promote-”

“Bullshit. With that general apporach towards people do you have any idea how many of them you prejudge? If what you say is right any of the kids I work with is the next Jack the Ripper and that’s just the biggest bullshit I have heard in ages.”

Dave raised his hands to apologize. “I did not say that-”

“Yes you did. Just minutes ago. Do I really need to cite you on how childhood trauma affects the psychological framework making the subject more likely to repeat the trauma causing behaviour?”

Ana seemed very clearly pissed, even though Dave didn’t really get why. What she was saying was a huge misunderstanding, and one that she didn’t let him correct. It was obviously not what they were assuming in his job. In fact, what she was citing _were_ his words, but her interpretation was wrong. But he wasn’t really sure she actually wanted to hear that right now. Their professional approach towards people was - and probably needed to be - a very different one. For Dave that wasn’t really a problem or mutually exclusive. For them trying to understand an unsub’s behaviour and where it was rooted in their individual backstory and looking for patterns among specific types of people didn’t mean that he saw a potential criminal in each and every person whose life wasn’t all love peace and harmony, or that she couldn’t be one for second chances and believing in people nevertheless.

It seemed to him, though, that going deep enough into the topic and the discussion so that they could eventually agree on it would pretty much shift the night into something different than it aimed at so far. And Ana appeared to agree on that. She abruptly put down her coffee cup and threw him a somewhat grim look.

Three a.m. breakfast was done, so much was sure.

“So you’re leaving today?”

“Yes.”

“Back to the states?”

“Yes.”

“At ten?”

“Twelve.”

“You already checked out?”

“No-” Dave started, but stopped talking when Ana got up, grabbed her jacket and went to the bar to pay. Just a moment later she was back at the table.

“Bill’s paid. Lets go.” She firmly nodded towards the door, not leaving it up to Dave if he wanted to stay or leave. This was originally planned to be him inviting her to make up for the drama of the evening, but considering the probably low to free price of the coffee it probably didn’t really matter much anyways - and Ana didn’t seem to give too much on the invitation itself either. It had been an interesting conversation, that was enough to make up for stuff.

When he followed her outside without hesitation, throwing a short thanks at her for the invitation that she obviously couldn’t care for less, she gave him a short, questioning look.

“So, you’re unattached? And we're putting sex on the agenda?” Her question and voice was open enough to give him a chance to back out without this getting awkward, but decided enough to make her position clear. They went from being heads deep into some sturdy debate on principles, one word away from bumping heads on a most serious matter, straight up to fucking. Another thing Dave didn’t expect from this night, and once more one he did not mind.

Dave had to bite back a laugh. He wasn’t exactly the type to say no to a pretty woman, not when the circumstances allowed it. Never had been. And Ana had been making _pretty_ clear points in the last hour, even without being this upfront right now. Maybe it wasn’t the most elegant way to ask him if he wanted to get involved. But he liked the way she handled this - and how she handled him. Most people were trying to hint at each other whether or not they were up to get physical, and more often than not it held the chance to get really awkward in the end. Views and gestures could do a lot, but interpersonal communication - especially when happening between strangers - needed words. And that wasn’t even the author in him speaking. And having her ask him for consent - no, not even asking, but demanding it - that was very attractive.

He gave her a short nod, accompanied by a minor smirk. Play it cool, he told himself, and tried to act upon that. “Sure.”

“Awesome.”

Ana didn't really sound excited. She almost sounded grumpy, but that was the aftermath of their work ethic debate still resonating. But even with that put aside, it was more of a necessary information she had required and gotten, so it was nothing to be excited about once they had their intentions settled. Dave had the impression that it was rather a general trait of character, not missing interest in what they were doing. After all it was her who had been the driving force in this.

Dave sideeyed her while they were walking away from the not so shady fish&chips place. “You’re doing that regularly?”

“What?”

He thought about putting it in somewhat elegant words but decided to screw that. Ana didn’t seem like someone loaded with a lot of sensitivities, so his question became quite outright. “Hooking up with random folks from the street?”

Ana laughed, deep and dark and wonderfully honest. And obviously not a bit offended. “Not as often as I wished but probably more often than you think.” She’d buried her hands in the pockets of her jacket and finally seemed calmer than when they’d enterd the small diner. The anger on the work topic seemed to fade with each step they took in the fresh and clear night air. An amused smile settled on her face and stayed there, making Dave just more amazed by her presence.

She didn’t define what he answer was supposed to mean and she didn’t care what he’d think of that either. If he wanted to think she hooked up with any weirdo available, so be it. As long as they were having a good time tonight - or, this morning rather, or whatever, until he left again - she didn’t care. And if he didn’t like the answer, he had better not asked her.

Last night’s adrenaline settled down, despite the caffeine in her veines or maybe because of it. Her body was busy digesting food and coffee and restocking energy, and the last hour had been entertaining. Annoying, too, but mostly entertaining. She threw Dave a short glance from the corner of her eye, who indeed didn’t seem to mind her answer, and just enjoyed the walk through the very early morning.

Stephen - or David, like that woman had called him - or whoever he was, was different than the people she usually got involved with, and she enjoyed that. It was like two worlds colliding, his and hers, and yet it wasn’t. It didn’t really feel like collision at all. Dave didn’t seem to be suits out-and-out - if he was, she’d surely not be the kind of woman he would get involved with. If he was, he’d express himself differently. And he’d probably mind her way.

A thought crossed Dave’s mind and his mouth was faster speaking it than his brain could tell him not to. “So with the concert and the club and the glowing” _don_ _’t_ , his brain begged him, but he let himself get carried away, testing out her limits “have you been with someone else tonight?”

Ana raised her brows and pursed her lips, but did not return his look. He could see a whole train of thoughts running through her mind right now, before she answered.

“What if? That’d make you envious?”

Would it? Hell, Dave didn’t know what he would think about it should it be true - but the thought didn’t evoke any emotional response in him. And he wasn’t really in the position to judge her with the role he was having right now either.

They walked for a bit in silence, before Ana eventually did throw him a daring look. “You really think that was clever, don’t you?”

“Excuse me?”

“Excuse _you_? I remember you were the one who just accused me of mindlessly fucking one by one random dudes within the same night. Do you really think that was clever?”

It did amuse Dave that she obviously had been discussing with herself wether or not she should be offended by his remark and came to the conclusion that yes, this was something scratching her honor enough to pick up the topic again. He really didn’t intend to offend her, though, but also couldn’t help but follow it through. “You’re pretty short tempered, huh?”

Ana stopped and stared at Dave. “What?”

Her voice was a little higher than before, hardly noticeable, but Dave noticed. He didn’t repeat what he said, but the corners of his mouth twitched slightly when he bit back a grin. Maybe he was pushing her too far. Maybe he was tempting fate and messing up right now what could be a fairly enjoyable afterplay otherwise - but his guts were willing to take that risk.

Ana crossed her arms, shifted her weigth and pursed her lips. “Do you really think it’s clever” she stressed every single word “to start an arguement with the woman you’re about to fuck about her temper or about fucking other people before?” She didn’t seem all upset, instead she was rather shifting between outrage and amusement, and Dave was pretty sure it was more of the latter than the first dominating. “That some american kink or what?”

“Am I wrong?” he asked.

Ana easily withhold his glance. “Am _I_? You’re into power games or what?”

Dave decided to go all in. “What if?”

Ana’s lips twitched as she grinned. If his words had been offensive, she’d moved past it in no time. “Well good luck then. I’m not easily played.”

Dave returned her grin. “Good.”

It was the last word they spoke until they reached the hotel. Everything that needed to be said between them was said, everything and maybe a little too much. They were just two strangers meeting under the most outstanding circumstances, bumping heads and at the same time syncing just a little too well for all things considered.

The stage was set for whatever was still to come.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Things changed drastically once they had entered the privacy of Dave’s hotelroom. Whatever was spoken before faded into insignificance, switches being tilted with the door closing behind them.

Ana pushed him away, not quite gentle, breaking up a breathless hungry kiss. “Shower. Let me get a quick shower, I’m all sweat and salt” she mumbled, carelessly throwing her jacket unto the next available countertop beside her. It had been one flowing movement, getting into his room, out of her jacket and blindly stumbling backwards away from the door towards the bed. All while her hands had been on his collar all the time and his on her hips, their lips sealed, barely departing to catch a breath when neccessary. Dave wasn’t sure when or how she’d got rid of her jacket, but hell if he would care for details. “Shower” Ana mumbled again, but instead of heading for the bathroom, she pulled him closer again for yet another passionate kiss. Or maybe he pulled her, in the end, Dave couldn’t say and it didn’t make a difference. Self-restraint was something for outside and got lost the moment the door behind them closed.

The closer they got each other, all arguements be damned, the more Ana realized that her night had indeed been long and messy and that this was unplanned enough to make her desperate for a quick clean up before they got started. It took them another five or six stumbled steps until she eventually departed from Dave. She raised her hand as if to shush him, or maybe herself, and make a point. “Shower. You can join me, old man” she teased him “but I’m not fucking anybody until I feel somewhat clean again. Or, maybe better not join me, because it won’t be a sexy shower, but a _I_ _’m fucking sweaty-_ shower.” If she didn’t take that break, ignoring the already very noticeable pulsation in her lower region, she wouldn’t be fully able to enjoy everything that would follow and feel gross.

Dave couldn’t help but laugh. “Enjoy” he said when Ana went for the bathroom.

Ana turned around for a moment, barely long enough so Dave could notice. “You bet” she said with a smirk on her lips and wrinkles around her eyes bearing witness that it was an honest smile, and often. She was still teasing him - not that he would need that - but he was pretty sure it wasn’t just all game but simply who she was.

“Sure you don’t wanna join?”

“I’m good, already took one earlier. But thank you.”

Ana shrugged and left the door open, leaving it to Dave if he wanted to enjoy the show for a bit or not, and he couldn’t help but take a short look after her at least.

They kept having a bit of small talk while she took a shower, as well as some deep talk. While Ana was in the bathroom, Dave carefully put aside his jacket and shoes and picked up her jacket from the floor as well while he was at it. A little bit of order didn’t hurt, and he didn’t have anything better to do anyways while he waited for her to be done.

At some point the water stopped.

“Stephen?”, Ana yelled from the bathroom.

“Yes?”

“Who assures me that you’re not one of the bad guys you say your unit hunts down?”

Her question was obvious, but the timing couldn’t be worse. Dave couldn’t think of any other situation where she would be as helpless as naked under the shower in a stranger’s bathroom. It was definitely a question worth asking, though he wasn’t sure what any answer would be worth. He obviously wasn’t one of said bad guys, but even if he was, what would a no or even a yes mean?

“Wanna see my resume?” he replied. It probably wasn’t the cleverest answer, but at least that should prove he was being honest.

It took ten seconds until Ana answered. Maybe the exact same thoughts had just crossed her mind. With a little time to think it over she yelled: “Sometimes the good guys are the bad guys.”

Well, she definitely wasn’t wrong about that. “True. But no, I don’t intend to murder you here or anything, and I’ll take a no for a no should you say so. I guess you gotta trust me on that.”

This time, her reply came immediately. “What if I got trust issues?”

“Then you have to play with fire” was everything Dave could think of.

Ana’s reaction disarmed the involuntarily tense situation again: she laughed. Deep and loud and honest. And untroubled. “Alright. Good for you I like fire.”

The water was turned back on and whatever this was obviously was settled.

It took another five or ten minutes until Ana was done with her short but neccessary detour to the bathroom. When she came back to the hotelroom she made quite an impression on Dave.

“Like what you see?”

Ana had dried up, but didn’t trouble to put on cloth nor a towel when she came back from the bathroom. They would get rid of the fabric right after anyways, so why bother?

It had been maybe fifteen minutes alltogether, including all the small talk and deep talk in the middle - long enough that she didn’t seem rushed but surprisingly short for the women Dave knew. It had definitely been long enough to calm down some of the heat again that had exploded once they had entered the private of his room - but it hadn’t killed it. Dave wasn’t turned off, quite the contrary. Even without Ana’s entrance right now. Her shower had instead been a very clever tactical move - and a neccessary, Dave was willing to believe that.

He had used the short break to pour both of them a drink from the mini bar, feeling a mild regret to not have his well stocked house bar available. A not so classy shot from the mini bar would have to do it. The drink was pretty much forgotten though the moment she got his attention.

Ana leaned in the bathroom door frame. “I sense we’re mildly uneven here” she said, lips pursed to a smirk. What a signature move, Dave thought. The same smirk had made it unto her face a couple of times tonight, and Dave couldn’t help but already regret that he would see it just this one night.

She didn’t seem to mind her nakedness at all, even considering they practically were complete strangers who had just met what felt like five minutes ago. She was casually leaning there, waiting for him to react (waiting for him to be hooked, so much he knew for sure), having it look like she was just waiting for her train to arrive or something.

Dave leaned back a little in the comfortable chair. “Are we?”

“How about you get rid of those unneccessary layers of fabric while I help myself.” Ana went for the mini bar and got herself a coke, declining his offered drink and pretty much ignoring him for the moment.

Dave found himself enjoying the show for a moment, following her self-confident movements and her blissfull ignorance. The fact that she was indeed _not_ putting on a show, and how her nakedness didn’t seem to bother her at all, was impressive.

Of course he did accept her invitation to look, to enjoy what he was seeing to put it in her words. And he did. She was an attractive woman - but she was also interesting. His eyes wandered above the countless tattoos on her body, ink at the same time both dominant and omnipresent as well as decent and unobstrusive. While she was tattooed on all extremities and her back, the dark ink blended in perfectly with her. It was all geometric shapes spread across her body - simple black bands running around her arm and calf, a row of small triangles the ran down from her shoulder to her wrist, a bigger, bolder set of filled triangles on one of her thighs. Everywhere but at the same time almost inconspicuous. It was an arrangement he had never seen before and found quite extraordinairy.

Ana put down the bottle of coke on the teatable besides him.

“Staring at a woman is pretty impolite” she said after she took a seat on Dave’s lap facing him.

Damn, her expression, no, everything about her said something completely different. It was much more of a _you better take a damn good look, old man, because that_ _’s something you won’t get to enjoy soon again_. That moral ambiguity was something that definitely caught his attention, and it definitely kept up his interest. It also kept up other parts of him. But this was so much more interesting than just being worth a good fuck.

“Is that so?” He held her gaze without blinking.

She rested her arms on his shoulders, giving him a playfully serious look. “Uhum.”

“Uhum?”

“Uhum.”

When Dave managed to get up with her a moment later and carried her the few steps over to the bed, for a second she made an astonished face.

“Surprised?”

“Not a bit” Ana said with a grin and reached for his waistband.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The night - or by now it was much rather the morning, or however one wanted to call it - was all about power games. Ana made Dave be a lot more forceful than he’d usually be, but she didn’t seem to mind that. Quite the contrary. Having him not be the by the books suits wearing guy got her only more aroused - and more demanding. She didn’t want him to be boring - and he wasn’t. Had she been the energetic, driving force until they reached the hotel again, it had become more even ever since. It was a mutually stimulating situation, a constant up and down in who was on top, in charge, and pressing the buttons. It was a give and take but by now with two very high, matching energy levels that clashed that night. Or morning. Or however one wanted to call it.

Dave enjoyed both ends, though he couldn’t help but enjoy being in charge just a little more tonight with Ana daring him so much. She was demanding control but at the same time demanding from him not to be the soft end, and he was very willing to give her that. He was savouring to see her not only being an active and equal part in this game of lust and power, but also seeing her taking rigorous pleasure in it. It was just as much pleasure for him seeing her enjoy herself and the moment this much.

It was as if her hands were writing books into the sheets, stories of pleasure. With every moan and every movement she wrote another page, fingers clawing into the pillow in front of her, then relaxing again, then suddenly reaching to the side searching for something to hold on to for sheets and pillows weren’t enough. For the moment Dave was in charge again, and he would make that moment count. Ana was lying on her stomach under him, one leg bent to her side with Dave in perfect position to hit just the exact right spots - and he did.

“Don’t change” she muttered into the pillow, a hoarse order rather than a plea, an instruction for the moment that reminded Dave he wasn’t as much in charge as he would have liked to - or that at least she still saw herself in the position to give him orders. With a self-confident smile on his lips he followed her words, keeping up steady, pushing her closer to the edge but not yet letting her jump over it. He could feel the tension building up. He didn’t _change_ , but he also didn’t grant her the satisfaction she was aiming for. Only when orders eventually did turn into something like a plea, yearning rather than uncontent, he pushed a little farther and allowed her the relief.

Her hand stayed in the same position, fingers digged deep into the bedsheets with painful pleasure, one page long, two, three, when the orgasm rolled over her. Dave paused his movement, giving her room to enjoy it as well as to catch her breath afterwards that she had been holding. And hell, it felt good for him, too.

When her hands relaxed and her chest rose and fell evenly again, Ana threw him a short glance from the corner of her eye. “Go on.”

“You sure?”

This time her words were more determined. “Go on.”

Dave bent down to her and pressed a soft kiss on the hairline in her neck before he gladly followed this order as well.

Ana raised her hip a little, just an invitation for him to grab her and help her turn around. But instead his hands reached lower for her center, his breath leaving warm traces on her back when he got closer to her again. The surprised gasp she made told Dave she hadn’t seen it coming, and only turned him farther on. When his fingers began running circles on her clit, she buried her face in the pillow again and moaned.

It didn’t take long until she climaxed another time under his hands.

A few moments later “Fuck you” was all Ana shot towards him, still breathless and caught off guard that he hadn’t just turned her around and kept fucking her like she’d expected, but instead tried to see how far he could get her and not even stopped there. He hadn’t let go of her that easily, hadn’t stopped when she came the second time, and had been pushing her until she had been a shaking mess. Her breath was heavy when she wondered who the hell she had run into tonight. When she threw him a glance over her shoulder and met his gaze and saw that high-handed grin on his lips, she knew that selflessness of making her come wasn’t so selfless at all. When she had finally turned herself around under him and faced him again, she looked at him with pursed lips and repeated “Oh, fuck you.” Making her come just to feel good about himself and his own skills was arrogance per excellence, so on principle she would hate that - but this had definitely been a win win situation, so she couldn’t really argue with it that much.

“You’re free to do” Dave said, the same smirk still on his lips.

“Oh you would like that, wouldn’t you.”

Dave would. And he would very much like this to not be done in a one time encounter. What had let them here had faded away, pushed into the meaninglessness it should hold, exchanged for something _fairly_ enjoyable.

This was the kind of chance encounter that made his change in profession worth it. And it wasn’t even really linked with what he did for a living.

If there was something David Rossi did not regret tonight, it was quiting his job and becoming and author and going down this rabbit hole.

Someone said: _Sometimes you meet someone, and it_ _‘s so clear that the two of you on some level belong together. As lovers, or as friends, or as family, or as something entirely different. You just work, whether you understand one another or you‘re in love or you‘re partners in crime. You meet these people throughout your life, out of nowhere, under the strangest circumstances, and they help you feel alive. I don‘t know if that makes me believe in coincidence, or fate, or sheer blind luck - but it definitely makes me believe in something._

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading this story. It really means a lot to me! If you have a minute and feel like leaving a comment, I would love to hear from you. Any feedback, thoughts, musing and random rambling is welcome. Also, as I am still working on the story, feel free to ask about things, scenes or characters you would like to read/know more about. (It will take me some time to rework things from german to english, but with ~300k german story so far there is a lot of potential. ;)) Feel free to write here or on tumblr (as painterofhorizons). And again: thank you for taking time to read this story!


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